In late September, Katherine Zappone released her new memoir Love in a Time of Politics. Written over the last seven years, it offers rare insights into life in Leinster House, but at its heart is the story of her relationship with the late Ann Louise Gilligan.

Born in Seattle, Washington, Katherine made history as the first open, married lesbian in Irish politics. Appointed to the Seanad in 2011 after being nominated by Taoiseach Enda Kenny, she went on to win a seat in the Dáil in 2016 as an Independent Progressive. She then negotiated with Fine Gael to join its government and was appointed Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, a role she held until 2020.

Many will also know Katherine from the Marriage Equality movement in Ireland, in which she and Ann Louise played an instrumental role towards securing a Yes result. The pair took a case against the Irish State to have their Canadian marriage recognised, a legal action which fueled the Marriage Equality movement, resulting in the constitutional win in 2015.

However, two years later, their trailblazing love story was tragically cut short. Ann Louise had suffered a catastrophic brain haemorrhage in 2013, leaving her blind and fighting for survival until 2017. Her death caused Katherine immense grief.

All of this and more is discussed in Love in a Time of Politics. Speaking about the memoir to GCN, Katherine revealed the main motivation behind it: “Ann Louise was trying to write her own book when she was sick, and she just wasn’t able to do it,” she said. “I wanted to write it for both of us, to take up the mantle, to do it for her.”

It was a long process, and one that brought up many emotions. Katherine shared that writing the memoir helped her understand “how deep the grief was”. There are of course feelings of sadness in that grief, but there is also “awe of her courage, her exceptional intelligence and her creativity”, as well as her resilience.

“Obviously Ann Louise and I were life partners and spouses and lovers and best friends, and yet still, I don’t think I fully realised how extraordinary she was until I started writing the story,” she said.

The memoir is a powerful way of keeping Ann Louise’s memory alive, just as it is in Katherine’s mind to this day.

“I went away for a short period of time trying to find where my home would be now, and when I decided to come back about two and a half years ago… I’d be driving around Dublin and every time I turned a corner, I could see her,” Katherine shared.

“It’s lovely to kind of meet her still, thinking, ‘God, that’s where we did that, or had that cup of tea, or we went to that movie’.”

However, she added, “The more fundamental thing is that, as time passed, I found that her spirit or her consciousness or mind became part of my heart. I could see myself responding to situations or people in a way that Ann Louise might have.

“She had 3 million types of gorgeous expressions. Sometimes I’d use her expression, I’d use some of her mannerisms, but it was more that because I lived with her and loved her so much and watched her, some of those behavioural patterns just became part of me. So I can see her in me so often and she’s really so alive.

“I think with the book then, in making that decision, it really for me, it’s above all a love story and it’s a testament to her,” she continued.

Their relationship shaped all of Katherine’s work, and another reason she wrote the memoir was “to try to record the way” she approached politics. While she acknowledges, “I wasn’t perfect. I made mistakes,” she always operated on core values of love and care, something missing from many politicians across the globe today.

She also brought the perspectives of minority communities into Leinster House, whether through her personal experiences as a migrant, lesbian woman with a disability, or those of the people she represented. She mentions her work on the Mother and Baby Homes and her role in freeing the Irishman Ibrahim Halawa from an Egyptian prison. She was also an active supporter of abortion rights and the Gender Recognition Act, and has long been a staunch trans ally.

At a time when diversity and inclusion are under attack, Katherine maintained that it is “extremely important” to have all types of people involved in politics, to ensure no one is left behind.

“I know that in my own living as a politician, I brought that diversity and there were many ways in which if I weren’t there, many policies or laws or amendments or whatever, just wouldn’t have happened. It’s as simple as that.”

She continued, “I just couldn’t believe it that I could be a lawmaker. It was just remarkable and of course, it made a difference.”

Although her career path has changed after losing her Dáil seat in 2020 and the controversy around her appointment as a UN special envoy in 2021, she looks at the world we are living in and poses the question, “Is there space for love in politics?”. Her memoir is a great place to look for answers.